Kimbia Athletes Take The Team Approach

Running is traditionally a very solitary sport, but the Kimbia athletes are taking a different approach and proving that it works.

Most of the elite runners like the solitary nature of the sport, but the Kimbia team, primarily Kenyans who train under coach Dieter Hogan in Boulder, CO, like to take the team approach. Building on the Kenyan tradition of preparing for and racing as a team, they bring six runners to the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, two to act as pacemakers, the other four ready to race.

Unlike the Kenyans, there is no "designated winner" or specific runner who all the others help during the race. The approach is that the pacesetters do their job getting the team as far as they can on pace, then it's every man for himself. Team members Evans Rutto and Ben Maiyo, for example, were battling each other for the title in 2005 in the race won by non-Kimbia runner, Felix Limo. Rutto has won the race twice, the most successful of the Kimbia team at Chicago. He comes from "good stock," as his father was a successful distance runner back in the 1960s.

"Maybe I have the genes of my father," Rutto said. Injuries and lack of motivation have hampered him over the last few years, but he says he is ready to return to the top this year. Teammates James Koskei andChristopher Cheboiboch were hoping to run fast times, somewhere around 2:06 before the weather threw a potential monkey wrench into those plans. Now, if the weather alters the pacing, both may find themselves having to navigate through the vagaries of a tactical battle. Instead of running for time, they will be running for place.

Or they may attempt to defy the weather and risk everything for an attempt at running fast. As race commentator Toni Reavis points out the compensation scale at Chicago is loaded toward people running fast. The bonuses for how fast you run are significant. If you run 2:06, for example, no matter what place you finish you earn $75,000. First place prize in Chicago is $125,000, and if you break the world record on top of that you are paid an additional $200,000.

Most people would say that's not bad for a little over two hours work, but that ignores what it takes to accomplish what these athletes do. And with the weather forcast as it is for Sunday, the effort necessary to get the money becomes quite a bit more impressive.

While the men will be taking the team approach, the lone Kimbia female,Kathy Butler, takes the more traditional solitary role. There are no pacemakers in the women's race.